Bath Rugby head coach Gary Gold: We knew what Saracens would do, we just couldn't stop them

Bath Rugby head coach Gary Gold pulled no punches after his side rolled over against Saracens in the Aviva Premiership yesterday, claiming they saw it coming but could do nothing about it.

Sarries cruised to an impressive 22-0 win at The Rec, with the outstanding Charlie Hodgson kicking 17 points and making the break which led to Richard Wigglesworth scoring the only try of the match.

And while Gold admitted he knew exactly the tactics Saracens would employ, he conceded Bath were powerless to stop them.

"The question is where didn't we fall short," he admitted. "Saracens were as good in every aspect of their game as we were poor.

"The lineout didn't function, our kicking game didn't function and there were a couple of defensive lapses.

"The small solace we can take is that we only conceded one try but Sarries are very good at what they do. They are three or four years down the line at playing these sorts of conditions and we certainly need to get a lot better at it. We were poor and it's an embarrassing result.

"I wasn't surprised because we thought they would play a kicking game. They call it suffocate and strangle, and they do it very well. They deserve credit for how well they did it and the accuracy of their kicks was very good.

"They are going to put you under a lot of pressure. It's a bit of a game of chess and we lost substantially."

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Comments

Gary Gold's 'to do' lists for the New Year:
BUY
1. A backs' coach (because we don't appear to have one)
2. A game strategist (because we don't appear to have one of them either)
2. An additional fly-half (as the only capable one currently on the books is Tom Heathcote)
SELL
1. Stephen Donald
2. Whoever is currently responsible for team motivation

Totally agree colincaos. My comments didn't relate specifically to Saturday's game. We have been tactically inept all season. The biggest worry is that we are far less than the sum the parts. We've acquired players because of the potential shown at previous Clubs - Simon Taylor, Paul James, Dave Atwood, Dom Day....the list is endless. Whilst I would never doubt individual commitment, there is never any sense of a group mentality. How Ryan Caldwell must be regretting leaving Ulster.
Thinking back to last season,Gary Gold almost did the impossible at Newcastle by injecting spirit into a group of players who were miles adrift from the rest of the league prior to his appointment. We all expected a similar situation at Bath...if Mr Gold could make such a difference with the Falcons' limited resources, surely anything was possible at the Rec.
Come on guys, please find a way to entertain and delight us in 2013. Saturday was a joyless experience for players, fans, the coaching staff and everyone else who had the misfortune to attend. Otherwise thousands of season ticket holders like myself will only be attending through a sense of duty, not expectancy. And a regret for the money shelled out because of the promise of a New Beginning. Once bitten.....

Mr Gold what an extraordinary commentary! May I just say that it would appear to me that if you want to play a kick and chase game, there are three things you need to do: firstly hire some decent kickers, then build a motivation and will to chase and, lastly, practice set pieces including restarts. Trouble is even if you do that well (and Bath is miles off that), who wants to watch it? Not me!

"But the most worrying aspect of our game is the total lack of attacking ideas. In Biggs, Eastmond and Agulla, we potentially have a really exciting strike force, but they never get to see the ball. How do we expect to succeed if we constantly kick away possession - pointlessly hoofing the ball back to the opposition will never win games"
I hope that ideas has not developed from watching the game against Saracens. Your not really going to play intelligent rugby by trying to run the ball in the atrocious weather conditions the game was played in. Doing that is suicide in the mud and rain. In other conditions then fine, but that tactic would have backfired horrendously on Saturday.

Suffocate and Strangle is that not what Bath do to its supporters - having watched Bath for over 40 years the rugby is a complete shambles one of the wealthiest clubs but with a poor set of players .
Can only think the 12,000 paying supporters have rocks for brains or more money that sense because that side is going no where !
to lose happens to everyone and to learn from defeats is even more important - however i have never seen a more choregraphed Bath team in all my days !
can players not realize a game plan on their own - ?

...the problem, Mr Gold, is that the line out has been suspect most of the season, and our kicking game has never, ever functioned effectively.
But the most worrying aspect of our game is the total lack of attacking ideas. In Biggs, Eastmond and Agulla, we potentially have a really exciting strike force, but they never get to see the ball. How do we expect to succeed if we constantly kick away possession - pointlessly hoofing the ball back to the opposition will never win games.
Looking back at the first half of the season, we should have won at the Madjeski and the Kassam. We had the beating of the Tigers at Welford Road and ran the Saints relatively close at the Rec. How different things could be...
We the Rec faithful are equally as exasperated as you appear to be. Unfortunately, unlike yourself, we are not in a position to change the situation. The squad has been training and playing together for almost six months now: surely you can no longer hide behind the excuse of a team in transition?